Two questions

[galaxy2x4]

First off, what is lapping? Second, i have a Volcano 2 HSF with the thermal pad. Is it worth putting the Arctic Silver 2 on there, how much of a difference will i see?
Doug

[William]

Lapping is using Finer and finer grits of sandpaper to smooth out the surface of your hsf. Thermal pads aren't great so you should see a pretty large performance gain by using AS2 probably in the neighborhood of 5C over a thermal pad, maybe more.

[SharkyTM]

william forgot to mention one important thing... take off the thermal pad first........ if you leave it on and put AS2 on, you wont see an improvement , and may see an increase in cpu temp.... i lapped my pal6035, and saw a 5C decrease... start off with like 300, then 500, then 800, and if you are really looking for max performance, go to 1500, then buffing compound...

sharkyTM

[merlins_wraith]

Remove the thermal pad, first and foremost. You can't lap the heatsink without removing it first. The first setup that I lapped and replaced the thermal pad (put a generic thermal grease on instead) I saw a 10C drop in my temps. Hope this helps.